Calming the Quran protestors and snobs in education

Dear Mark: President Apology is at it again. This time, he apologized to Afghanistan and I guess all Muslims for the accidental burning of copies of the Quran by U.S. troops. Obama even had the nerve to say his apology "calmed things down" in that region after all the violence broke out. What calm? Doesn't he realize that several of our brave fighting men were killed in cold blood as a result of this mess? — Apologize My Butt

Dear Apologize: I can't imagine the president hasn't turned on the news, opened a newspaper or logged onto a computer to notice that Afghanistan is anything but calm. You would think at the very least his teleprompter would alert him to the death and mayhem in Afghanistan as a result of the Quran burnings.

This may rankle some of my conservative brethren, but I don't think an apology in this instance was out of line. The problem is this president apologizes far too often for mostly the wrong reasons, thus diminishing the meaning of each subsequent apology. I'm still investigating whether or not Obama's words, and not Moses, actually parted the Red Sea.

Dear Mark: What is this recent antipathy toward higher education that some on the right are expressing? Of course you are aware of Sick Rantorum's recent comments bemoaning Obama's stated desire to see that every American has the opportunity to pursue post-high-school education (either at a traditional four-year university, community college or trade school). Apparently in Santorum's eyes post-high-school education is simply a ploy on the left to remake little conservative children into Marxist automations.

One of the greatest pieces of legislation was the GI Bill, which provided millions of Americans the opportunity to pursue a college education.

Numerous studies reflect the economic positives from a well educated populace, so please enlighten me. In fairness, I will disclose to you that I have a university degree and a postgraduate doctorate, and I am not a Marxist. — B-Man in the Falls

Dear B-Man: I am glad that you didn't become a Marxist as a result of college, but the reality is that academia today is loaded with Marxists, socialists, pacifists, communists and any other "ists" one can think of. Unfortunately, there are not too many "tives," as in conservatives, in those ivory towers on campuses.

I cannot speak for Rick Santorum and what exactly he was thinking when he referred to President Obama as a snob for wanting all kids to attend college. It looks like Santorum was trying to make political hay out of Obama's collegiate remarks during a primary in the blue-collar state of Michigan. Santorum should have worded his thoughts differently, but in today's world of instantaneous media coverage, a candidate doesn't get do-overs.

As for education in general, I don't believe Santorum is totally wrong nor do I believe Obama is a snob for wanting all kids to attend college. The problem is that the prevailing opinion in public education is that college should be the ultimate goal, when in fact all students are not interested in careers requiring college. The result is millions of dollars in wasted resources and probably millions of frustrated students who feel they are wasting their time.

As for Santorum's theory on college liberal indoctrination, I do believe that in many instances college professors are more concerned with teaching students what to think as opposed to how to think.

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Comments

... education ... C'mon, Mark ... I can't imagine the columnist hasn't turned on the news, opened a newspaper or logged onto a computer to hear Santorum's direct reply ... Santorum was directly disputing the President's idea of making way for everyone to go to college -- equalizing the playing field here as he plans everywhere else.

Santorum was simply making note that by making it free one cannot make everyone educated. This, the latest of the Obama Fairy Tales, is another of the tales that "take from those who work for it and give it to those that don't want to work for it".

Santorum never accused Obama of being snobby, nor did he say that everyone shouldn't attend college. He just made note that vocational education (service oriented careers) will be in higher demand - along with those that will require that education to meet those future service needs.